The+Vampire

=//The Vampire,// Charles Baudelaire (1857)=

You who, like the stab of a knife, Entered my plaintive heart; You who, strong as a herd Of demons, came, ardent and adorned,

To make your bed and your domain Of my humiliated mind — Infamous bitch to whom I'm bound Like the convict to his chain,

Like the stubborn gambler to the game, Like the drunkard to his wine, Like the maggots to the corpse, — Accurst, accurst be you!

I begged the swift poniard To gain for me my liberty, I asked perfidious poison To give aid to my cowardice.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Alas! both poison and the knife <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Contemptuously said to me: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">"You do not deserve to be freed <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">From your accursed slavery,

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Fool! — if from her domination <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Our efforts could deliver you, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Your kisses would resuscitate <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">The cadaver of your vampire!"

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">- Translated by William Aggeler (1954)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Accessed on 29th October 2011 on http://fleursdumal.org/poem/128

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Thou, sharper than a dagger thrust <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Sinking into my plaintive heart, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Thou, frenzied and arrayed in lust, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Strong as a demon host whose art

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Possessed my humbled soul at last, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Made it thy bed and thy domain, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Strumpet, to whom I am bound fast <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">As is the convict to his chain,

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">The stubborn gambler to his dice, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">The rabid drunkard to his bowl, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">The carcass to its vermin lice — <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">O thrice-accursèd be thy soul!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">I called on the swift sword to smite <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">One blow to free my life of this, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">I begged perfidious aconite <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">For succor in my cowardice.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">But sword and poison in my need <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Heaped scorn upon my craven mood, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Saying: "Unworthy to be freed, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">From thine accursed servitude,

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">O fool, if through our efforts, Fate <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Absolved thee from thy sorry plight, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Thy kisses would resuscitate <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Thy vampire's corpse for thy delight."

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">- Translated by Jacques LeClercq (1958)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Accessed on 29th October 2011 on http://fleursdumal.org/poem/128